Paul Rudd is an American actor and screenwriter. Paul Rudd primarily plays comedy roles, and is most well-known for his roles in the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Knocked Up, Role Models, Clueless, and I Love You, Man.

His parents, who emigrated from England, were Jewish, and Paul had a bar mitzvah. His family`s original surname was Rudnitzky. His father, Michael, was an historical tour guide who was formerly the vice president of World Airways, while his mother, Gloria, was a sales manager at the television station KSMO-TV.

Paul Rudd was raised in Overland Park, Kansas. He attended high school at Shawnee Mission West and college at the University of Kansas, where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. For one semester, Paul Rudd studied Jacobean drama at the University of Oxford.